Lots of data is mashed up in web applications, and in the talk, Irv Shapiro of IfByPhone shows how to create mashups with telephone services. Telephones are an important resource to leverage because they're everywhere, everyone has them, and everyone is comfortable with them. Even novice internet users and the elderly who have difficulty completing basic tasks on the Internet are comfortable with telephones. Many millions of people who don't even have access to the internet have a telephone.
IfByPhone has a tool kit for web developers where a traditional web form can be replaced with a web service call to access traditional phone (not just VoIP) numbers. One example would be to replace the contact email form on a web page with a box to enter your phone number and receive a phone call. In a more sophisticated example he walks through, someone who needs directions calls a direction service, enters the phone number of a nearby business and the address of their destination. The direction service then looks up the location of that business based on its phone number, finds the address (which is then where the user is calling from), uses that address and the destination to get directions from MapQuest, and reads them back over the phone. This lets regular phone users without GPS get location-specific information over a plain old phone line.
Irv Shapiro is the CEO/CTO of Ifbyphone and has spent over 30 years driving technology innovation with a focus on data communications and networking. Irv began his career writing custom VAX/VMS device drivers for Digital Equipment Corporation and continued his career at Digital as the District Network Consultant and then the U.S. Area Data Communications Expertise Center Manager.
Irv left Digital to start Metamor Technologies, a system integration firm that grew to over 500 consultants and was a two-time INC 500 award recipient. After selling Metamor he founded Edventions, an elementary school infrastructure company. At Edventions Irv developed an industry-leading split ASP deployment model that leveraged the performance of in school systems with the flexibility of Internet connectivity and support.
After focusing on computing architectures and technologies at Metamor and Edventions, Irv turned his attention to Voice and Phone Mashups at Ifbyphone. He designed the company's proprietary automated VoiceXML generation technology which combines the cost savings of Asterisk Open Source solutions with the robustness of carrier grade VoiceXML/CCXML solutions.
Irv was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 1997, was a Finalist in the 1997 KMPG Illinois High Tech Awards, has a BS/CS from Washington University in St. Louis and is a regular speaker and writer on the application of technology.
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